Mixed martial artist Denice Zamboanga is not from Zamboanga because she is from Quezon City, as boxing prospect Weljon Sandag Mindoro hails not from Mindoro but from Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur. Mindoro was on top of the card in the boxing big bang here Sablayan in January this year.
Mayor Walter “Bong” Marquez and Vice-Mayor Edwin N. Mintu, in line with the 121st Founding Anniversary of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, initiated what they call as First Sablayan Festival of Sports (FSFS) and boxing is one of its features. Mintu and Marquez and the unified force from the local legislative board and the executive officials are all keen on sustaining Sablayan’s sports program. They put considerable effort and budget into the cause of FSFS. The week-long affair is themed, “Siento Bente Unong Singkad, Bugso ng Bayang Maunlad (BBM).”
The fight was billed “Bakbakan sa Sablayan” and was promoted by Gerry Balmes, managed by Orlan Borcelango and Art Monis stood as a matchmaker. The event is sanctioned by the Philippine Games and Amusement Board or GAB. Balmes, et al, are the top honchos of QuiBors Boxing Gym, and all adhere to their mission of developing world-caliber boxers through revolutionized training.
The “Bakbakan” was held January 12, 2023, at the Sablayan Astrodome, the same venue as Manny Pacquaio’s first two professional fights. The first fight was against Edmund Ignacio on January 22, 1995, and Pinoy Montejo on March 18. The construction of the arena was a brainchild of the then-mayor Doring Mintu, father of the present chief legislator and presiding officer of the municipality. At the same time, the current mayor is a relative of the Magramo boxing clan who hailed from Mindoro and Romblon.
Little did Pacquiao know that a legend would be born on that momentous night of January 25, 1995, in Sablayan.
This is expected to be one hell of a “fistival”. It was consist of 5 professional matches plus an array of amateur bouts taken care of by Occidental Mindoro’s living legend of boxing and former #1 Philippine Junior Featherweight contender and #3 in the OPBF or the Orient Pacific Boxing Federation, Diomedes “Joe” Francisco.
In reality, this is already the second fight of Mindoro in Mindoro. The first outing was in Mamburao on November 15, 2019, defeating Joel Borbon, an event that is also part of the province’s founding birthday, and his post-fight pic is shown above.
Mindoro, 22, downed all his nine opponents and he carries an immaculate record of nine wins with zero losses. His moniker is “Triggerman”, therefore, he can be considered the Allan Caidic of Philippine boxing. All the fights are well done by Weljon, as boxing commentator and sports podcaster Pow Salud used to put them. After Reyk, Mindoro had two fights. He had a game judged as a draw against Takeshi Inoue and downed another Japanese, Mao Tameda via first round KO in May 13, 2023.
QuiBors Boxing Promotion heralded the clash last January as the first middleweight boxing fight in the whole country. Mindoro will slug it out against veteran journeyman Willem Reyk of Jakarta, Indonesia. The Mindoro-Reyk non-title clash is the main event and Mindoro’s first fight against a foreigner. Mindoro downed Reyk in the 3rd round.
In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above 154 lbs. (70 kg) and up to 160 lbs. (73 kg). Today’s known middleweights are Jermall Charlo and Gennadiy Golovkin.
But the first-ever and only Filipino middleweight great is Ceferino Garcia. Garcia holds the most victories ever achieved by a Filipino boxer and is also the only boxer from the Philippines to become the world champion in the middleweight division. Garcia, the originator of the so-called "bolo punch" won a total of 121 fights with 77 knockouts from 1923 to 1945.
The former Olympic bronze medalist-turned-professional Eumir Marcial is the best Pinoy middleweight today, who like Mindoro, has a clean professional slate. They are two of the best so-called “Midboys” the country currently has. They are the country’s current big boys, literally speaking. Only a few Pinoy pugilists are qualified in that division because of their physical attributes.
This coming Foundation Anniversary in January 2024, hope we will have boxing matches in Sablayan!
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